Pineville, NC, United States
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Radial Catapult RX4: Four Channels of Analog Audio Off One Cat 5 Cable
The Radial Catapult RX4 is a passive four-channel analog audio snake receiver that takes the four balanced signals arriving on a single shielded Cat 5 or Cat 6 cable and breaks them out to standard male XLR connectors. It is the receive end of the Catapult system, the module that turns a slim Ethernet run back into four discrete audio outputs at the console, the amp rack, or the recorder. For the engineer who ran a lightweight Cat 5 cable instead of a heavy multi-core loom, the RX4 is where that single cable pays off as four clean channels ready to patch.
How the RX4 Turns One Cable Back Into Four Channels
A standard Cat 5 cable carries four twisted pairs, and a Catapult send module maps one balanced audio channel onto each pair. The RX4 does the reverse: it receives all four pairs on its RJ45 input and wires each straight to a male XLR output, reconstructing the four original balanced signals with no processing in between. Because the whole path stays analog, there is no clock, no conversion, and no compatibility list to worry about, just four channels in on Cat 5 and four channels out on XLR.
Passive Straight-Wire Operation With No Power Required
The RX4 is fully passive, so it draws no power and contains no active circuitry that could add noise, latency, or a point of failure. That direct wire from the RJ45 to the XLR outputs keeps the signal transparent and linear from 7 Hz to 20 kHz, preserves a full 140 dB of dynamic range, and passes up to +35 dBu without clipping. What the sending module puts on the cable is exactly what the RX4 delivers, night after night, with nothing to power up or troubleshoot.
Two Sets of Outputs to Feed Two Destinations
Rather than a single output bank, the RX4 provides two parallel sets of four male XLR outputs, so the same four incoming channels can drive two destinations at once. Send the four signals to a main console and a backup recorder simultaneously, or split a return feed to two zones of a system, all without an external splitter. The design uses standard XLR-M connectors throughout, so the outputs plug directly into any mixer, interface, or amplifier input.
Ethercon Input, Thru-Put, and Ground Lift
Connections happen on a rugged RJ45-type Ethercon connector rated for stage abuse, and a second thru-put jack lets you daisy-chain another Catapult receiver off the same Cat 5 run to extend the system. To keep long cable runs between rooms or across a stage quiet, the RX4 includes a ground-lift switch that breaks the shield connection and silences the buzz and hum that ground loops create. It is a small switch that saves hours of troubleshooting on a noisy stage.
Built in Steel for the Long Haul
The RX4 is housed in a 14-gauge steel chassis and outer shell, the same road-proven construction Radial builds into its touring direct boxes. It shrugs off the knocks of daily load-ins and the permanence of a fixed install alike, so a receiver bolted into a rack five years ago still delivers four clean channels today. This is a set-it-and-forget-it piece of infrastructure, not a fragile breakout box.
Who the Catapult RX4 Is For
The RX4 is for the touring engineer breaking out a Cat 5 stage run at a distant amp rack, the install contractor routing audio between rooms on existing Ethernet wiring, and the studio that wants a transparent, powerless way to turn a single cable back into four balanced outputs. Paired with a Catapult Mini TX or TX4 on the send side, the RX4 completes a rugged four-channel analog snake that travels light and never needs a firmware update.
Price$234.99
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